Waste treatment material

ABSTRACT

A WASTE TREATMENT MATERIAL FOR USE IN PRESERVING REFUSE AND WASTE MATERIAL WITHIN A CONTAINER SUCH AS A HOLDING TANK ON BOARD A SHIP OR OTHER TYPE OF PLEASURE CRAFT WHICH IS USED AT LOCATIONS REMOTE FROM SEWAGE RECEIVING OR TREATING FACILITIES. THE TREATMENT MATERIAL COMPRISES A MIXTURE OF PARAFORMALDEHYDR, AN ALKALI MATERIAL, A MASKING AGENT, A COLORANT, AND A WETTING AGENT. THE TREATMENT MATERIAL MAY BE PACKAGED IN WATER-SOLUBLE PACKAGING MATERIAL OR CONVENTIONAL PACKETS OF FOIL OR PLASTIC IN CONVENIENT DOSAGE QUANTITIES TO BE ADDED AT REGULAR INTERVALS TO A WASTE MATERIAL CONTAINER.

United States Patent Olfice 3,785,971 Patented Jan. 15, 1974 3,785,971 WASTE TREATMENT MATERIAL James L. Halley, Atlanta, Ga., assignor to Tesco Chemicals, Inc., Atlanta, Ga. N Drawing. Filed Jan. 26, 1972, Ser. No. 221,044

Int. Cl. C02h 3/06 U.S. Cl. 210-64 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A waste treatment material for use in preserving refuse and waste material within a container such as a holding tank on board a ship or other type of pleasure craft which is used at locations remote from sewage receiving or treating facilities. The treatment material comprises a mixture of paraformaldehyde, an alkali material, a masking agent, a colorant, and a wetting agent. The treatment material may be packaged in a water-soluble packaging material or conventional packets of foil or plastic in convenient dosage quantities to be added at regular intervals to a waste material container.

DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to maintenance of waste material in the least offsensive condition during a period of storage and more particularly the invention concerns a material which will inhibit the growth of decomposition bacteria within waste material while masking the odor of the waste material.

In order to reduce or eliminate water pollution from the discharge of waste from boats and the like, the Federal Government has recently required that all boats having waste receptacles include a holding tank on board for reception and storage of waste material. When adjacent a pier or docked, the Waste material may be discharged from the holding tank to a sewer or a sewage treatment facility.

In view of these new requirements the storage of waste material on board a boat has produced immediate problems concerning adequate methods of preservation and treatment to reduce the inconvenience of passengers. To date the solutions to these problems have involved the usage of chemical additives which result in the addition of harmful or undesirable chemicals to the waste water. The Federal Government has indicated its displeasure with these solutions and in some instances has banned their usage.

It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a waste treatment material which may be used to preserve waste material in a container such as a holding tank while also masking offensive odors produced by the waste material. It is a further object that the waste material contain compounds and components which are not prohibited or otherwise restricted by Federal Government agencies concerned with water pollution. These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a review of the following description.

According to the present invention there is provided a waste treatment material in granular or powder form which will kill or reduce bacteria within waste material to retard decomposition thereof for a determinable period of time and mask any offensive odors produced by the waste material. The waste treatment material is formulated by intimately and uniformly mixing together the following compounds: paraformaldehyde; and alkali material; a wetting agent; a masking agent; and a colorant. The mixed material may be packaged within a water soluble plastic material to be conveniently added in dosage quantities to the reservoir of liquid within a waste receptacle tank. The waste treatment material will then be added to the holding tank as the waste receptacle is flushed and liquid from the reservoir flows through the receptacle and into the holding tank. It is preferred that approximately two ounces of waste treatment material be added at one time to the holding tank for every four gallons of liquid within the holding tank. This procedure should be repeated every three to seven days depending upon the amount of use of the waste receptacle and the amount of waste material added to the holding tank.

The composition of the waste treatment material is critical to the present invention and it is preferred that from 25% to by weight of the material be paraformaldehyde; a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention includes from 45 to 55% of paraformaldehyde. A further component of the treatment material is an alkali compound such as a carbonate or hydroxide of sodium or potassium. The preferred alkali compound is sodium carbonate at concentration by weight of from 60% to 20%. A particularly preferred embodiment includes from 45% to 40% by weight of sodium carbonate.

The treatment material also includes a wetting agent. Any such agent is suitable but a preferred agent for use in this invention is an alkyl-aryl polyether alcohol at a concentration by weight of from 8% to 1%; a particularly preferred concentration is from 6% to 4%. Additional component of the present treatment material is a colorant such as a blue dye. Any dye is suitable, but preferably the dye is a blue dye such as Pigmasol Blue B available from BASF Wyandotte. A preferred concentration for colorant is from 4% to 1% by weight with a particularly preferred concentration being 3% to 1.5%. The last component of the treatment material is a masking agent to mask the somewhat offensive odor of the stored waste material. Any masking agent is suitable and a preferred masking agent is Malabate S-76-AW from Albert Verley Company. A preferred concentration for the masking agent is from 3% to 0.5% by weight with a preferred concentration beingfrom 2% to 0.75% by weight.

It has been found that the present formulation will severely retard the decomposition of waste material within a container thereby retarding the creation of offensive odors and offensive by-produ'cts. Consequently, waste material may be retained in a container for a reasonable period of time without producing conditions which are obnoxious to passengers and other persons associated with the container.

Once the container is emptied into a sewer or sewage treatment facility, the waste treatment materials do not EXAMPLE A mixture of 50% by weight paraformaldehyde, 42% by weight sodium carbonate, 5% alkyl-aryl polyether alcohol as wetting agent, 1% blue dye, and 2% masking agent is prepared in a blending device. Packages of the mixture are prepared by adding two ounces of the mixture to an envelope of sheet polyvinyl alcohol. The envelope is closed. One package is then added to the water within the reservoir of a ship-board commode and the polyvinyl alcohol dissolves releasing the mixture also dissolves within the water. When the commode is flushed the water plus waste treatment material is passed through the commode and into the holding tank of the ship. The holding tank contains four gallons of liquid and the waste treatment material adequately retards decomposition of the waste treatment material therein to maintain offensive odors at a level which can be masked by the masking agent for one week. The wetting agent aids in maintaining the commode in a clean condition. In addition when the holding tank is evacuated, the Wetting agent assists in the interior cleaning of the tank. The colorant is a positive indication of presence for the treatment material.

While this invention has been described in detail, with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that variations and modifications can be eifected within the spirit and scope of the invention as described hereinbefore and as defined in the appended claims. v

What is claimed is:

1. Waste treatment material for reducing bacterial growth to retard decomposition of waste material for a determinable period of time and mask oflfensive odors during that period, said material comprising from 25% to 75% by weight of paraformaldehyde, from 60% to 20% by weight of a compound selected from the group consisting of sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, potassium carbonate, and potassium hydroxide, from 8% to 1% of a wetting agent, from 4% to 1% of a colorant and from 3% to .5 of a masking agent.

2. Waste treatment material according to claim 1 wherein the components are packaged in a dosage quantity within a water soluble material to be released therefrom upon addition of the package to a supply of water.

3. Method of treating a waste material within a container to reduce the ofiensiveness of the material over a determinable period of time comprising adding to the waste material a dosage quantity of a mixture of from to 75% of paraformaldehyde, from to 20% by weight of a compound selected from the group consisting of sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, potassium carbonate, and potassium hydroxide, from 8% to 1% of a Wetting agent, from 4% t0 1% of a colorant and from 3% to .5 of a masking agent.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 731,578 6/1903 Koehler 424-342 X 2,858,939 11/1958 Corliss 210-60 X 2,507,236 5/ 1950 Williams 424342 SAMIH N. ZAHA'RNA, Primary Examiner T. G. WYSE, Assistant Examiner us. (:1. X.R. 424-342 

